You may not have noticed it, but Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin say there is a lot less Canadian trash heading to our state. Is that stopping the conga line of Canadian trucks heading here? No.
At Brent Run landfill near Montrose, we noticed the Canadian trucks haven't gone anywhere. There's one from Ontario and there's another one. We were unable to reach Brent Run officials for comment, but an industry source says, during 2009, it took in more than 2,000 tons of Canadian trash a day.
That figure has dropped significantly because of the new agreement preventing Canada's municipal waste from coming here. But trash from private companies in Canada, including industrial and commercial waste, is still winding up right here.
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow says new numbers show the amount of trash coming to Michigan is down, way down. "About one-and-a-half million tons of Canadian trash has stopped coming into Michigan. That's 40,000 trash trucks (a year). So this is a major step forward," she said.
The agreement covers just 40 percent of the Canadian trash coming to Michigan. Stabenow says stopping the other 60 percent may be tied up for years in the courts.
Why do they bring the trash here to begin with? "Wisconsin charges over $12 a ton to dump in their landfills. Michigan charges 21 cents," Stabenow pointed out.
Less Canadian trash means less revenue, which could cost jobs. But Stabenow feels it's worth the loss since the trucks cause environmental and health problems and clog the roads.
